Mental Health Ministries e-Spotlight
Fall 2015
Mental Illness Awareness Week - October 4-10
National Day of Prayer - Tuesday, October 6
National Depression Screening Day - Thursday, October 8
Mental Illness Awareness Week
In 1990, the U.S. Congress established the first full week of October as Mental Illness Awareness Week (MIAW) in recognition of NAMI's (National Alliance on Mental Illness) efforts to raise mental illness awareness. Since then, mental health advocates across the country have joined with others in their communities to sponsor activities, large or small, for public education about mental illness. This year MIAW takes place October 4–10. The theme revolves around building a movement through the new Stigma Free initiative. For more information, suggested activities and a resource toolkit, visit the NAMI website.
MIAW is an opportunity to do something to raise awareness about mental illness in your faith community or to partner with community groups in your area for an event. This e-Spotlight includes information and resources to help you make the most of this educational opportunity to erase the stigma of mental illness in our faith communities.
Resources on the Mental Health Ministries Home page include: Mental Illness Awareness Week bulletin insert
National Day of Prayer ideas (PDF, English | PDF, Spanish) National Day of Prayer Sermon Starters What You Need to Know About Mental Illness fact sheet
Video Clip - Overcoming Stigma: Finding Hope
The National Day of Prayer for Mental Illness Awareness Recovery and Understanding -
October 6
The National Day of Prayer for Mental Illness Recovery and Understanding is Tuesday, October 6, 2015. Mental illness networks and faith leaders are urged to work together so that they recognize and prepare for this day in a way that works best for each faith community. The prayers and actions of both faith communities and secular organizations are needed to restore mental wellness in America. By seeking God’s guidance we can recommit ourselves to replacing misinformation, blame, fear and prejudice with truth and love in order to offer hope to all who are touched by mental illness.
You can download a resource with Liturgies to use for the National Day of Prayer on the Home page of the Mental Health Ministries website. This resource is available in English and Spanish. Many faith communities have sponsored an interfaith candle lighting service using a liturgy written by Carole J. Wills that is included in this resource. Other resources are available on the NAMI website.
Saddleback Church Conference: The Gathering on Mental Health and the Church
It's difficult to imagine that 50% of adults will develop depression, anxiety, self-harm, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, PTSD, borderline personality disorder, schizophrenia, or some other mental illness in their lifetime. This staggering reality can feel daunting, but there is HOPE. HOPE says that you are not defined by your illness. HOPE says your life has a purpose even when you don't feel it. HOPE says you are not alone.
Rev. Rick Warren and his wife, Kay Warren, responded to the tragic death by suicide of their son by having Saddleback Church sponsor a major conference on mental health and the church. This year’s three day conference will include speakers who will provide practical help and hope for individuals affected by mental illness, their loved ones, church leaders, and mental health professionals. The conference will be held October 7-9, 2015, at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA. Click here for more information and to register for this gathering. Webcasts are available by clicking here.
Book - Choose Joy by Kay Warren
Why are some people—even in the toughest times—always filled with joy, while most of us can't seem to find lasting joy no matter how hard we search? Do joy-filled people know something we don't? The answer is yes! And in her warm, candid style, Kay Warren shares that life-transforming truth with you.
Part 1 - Joy Is My Inheritance: Embracing the Permission to Be Joyful
Part 2 - Joy Is a Conviction of My Mind: Discovering a New Way of Thinking
Part 3 - Joy Is a Condition of My Heart: Cultivating a Soul-Response That Allows Joy to Deepen
Part 4 - Joy Is a Choice of My Behavior: Ways to Choose Joy Daily This book is available through Saddleback Church.
Resources for Veterans Day - November 11
Veterans Day is Wednesday, November 11, 2015. Many people confuse Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Memorial Day is a day for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle. While those who died are also remembered, Veterans Day is the day set aside to thank and honor ALL those who served honorably in the military – in wartime or peacetime. In fact, Veterans Day is largely intended to thank LIVING veterans for their service.
Besides acknowledging and showing appreciation for the contributions of our veterans, we also need to be proactive in insuring that our veterans receive the support and care they have earned as they make the transition to civilian life. Sadly many veterans continue to be affected by the trauma they experienced known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Our faith communities can help by providing education about PTSD and suicide prevention as well as finding ways to provide support to service members and their families.
Bulletin Insert - Veterans Day: A Time to Remember and Support
Mental Health Ministries has produced an interfaith Veterans Day resource that can be used as a bulletin insert or flyer. Some of the suggestions of what faith communities can do to support veterans and their families include:
Publicly acknowledge members of the congregation who have served or are serving in the military through prayers, listing names in the service bulletin and posting photos of those currently serving.
Send letters, care packages and other tokens of support to persons who are deployed.
Support families dealing with the transition of persons leaving for service and returning from service. Faith communities can reach out through phone calls, providing meals, providing child care and, most importantly, providing a listening ear.
Know the signs of distress and reach out when an individual or family is struggling. Children are especially sensitive to signs of stress in the home.
Provide non-judgmental pastoral care and opportunities for veterans to share their story and talk about how their combat experience has affected their faith. Veteran’s Day: A Time to Remember and Support is available to be downloaded in English and in Spanish.
Supporting Our Veterans
The article, How Faith Communities Can Help Veterans and Their Families Readjust by VA Chaplain, David Lundell, is available on the Mental Health Ministries website.
At the NAMI Veterans and Military Resource Center you will find resources, support, and partnerships dedicated to mental health policy, education initiatives and advocacy priorities that impact active duty military personnel, veterans with mental illness and the family members of these individuals.
The Presbyterians for Disability Concerns Network (PDC) has a resource packet, The Wounds of War: The Church as a Healing Community.
The National Catholic Partnership on Disability (NCPD) has a list of resources to support returning veterans and PDF files of webinars on veteran support.
No two veterans have the same war experience, nor, upon returning from war do they face exactly the same reintegration challenges. Likewise, veterans heal and recover in their own ways and along their own timelines. Working together, compassionate, knowledgeable, and skilled caregivers, friends, and professionals can give veterans life-saving and life-giving care and support. This practical guide for ministering to veterans is packed with wisdom and advice to help caregivers understand the nature of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars, the challenges soldiers face when returning home, and the physical, psychological, and spiritual wounds of war. Several chapters of the book are dedicated to helping faith communities minister effectively to returning soldiers by outlining the basic principles for outreach, providing guidelines for creating a welcoming and safe environment, and sharing ideas for activating the healing rituals of the church year. Also included in the book is a wealth of additional recommended resources including: agencies that serve veterans, tips for making effective referrals, quick screening tools for PTSD, depression, and traumatic brain injury; and a comprehensive Wounds of War Assessment with a whole person focus. Available on Amazon.
Catalogue Resource Guide of Toolkits and Content Suggestions for Faith and Cultural Leaders
When an individual and family crisis occurs, when natural disaster strikes, or when global threats arise, many turn to trusted sources for information, clarity and guidance. More often than not, these are the faith or cultural leaders within the community and trusted media outlets. Today’s media delivery system is truly anytime anywhere, unescapably a force shaping our culture. With hundreds of communication channels (radio, TV, print, streaming media, internet) now available, opportunity does exist to reinforce the voice of leaders in our communities and to turn up the volume on conversations originally only heard by a few. This evolution of communication is rapidly shaping attitudes and opinions at a pace far beyond personal communication. This resource catalog is designed to connect faith and cultural leaders, entertainment creators interested in family friendly programming, and journalists with important information that can help to shape the conversation about mental health and substance use issues. A PDF file is available in the Resource Guides section of the Mental Health Ministries website.
Snippets from Susan
Mental Illness Awareness Week Prayer
O, God, we gather here together today, as people from many different faith communities.
We come before You, remembering all those persons whose lives have been touched by mental illnesses.
We give thanks for those persons here who have given of their time and talents to do what they are able to help persons who are dealing with mental illnesses in their lives and in the lives of their families and friends.
We give thanks for the improvement in medication and treatment programs that have enabled persons with mental illnesses to live productive lives.
We pray that our society would do everything possible to make early diagnosis and treatment a standard operating procedure.
We pray and ask that stigma be removed, so that persons and their families would get the appropriate help as soon as symptoms appear.
Guide each one of us, and help us, as we endeavor to bring help and hope to those families and individuals.
Amen. [Margaret Ann Holt, UMC]
Rev. Susan Gregg-Schroeder
Coordinator of Mental Health Ministrieswww.MentalHealthMinistries.net
6707 Monte Verde Drive
San Diego, California 92119 United States
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